Sorry it took so long to update but I have been having a horrible time getting ready for school to start and closing out the last few classes from last semester at the school I teach at. It has been Hell. Thank you ever so much for being patient with me.

--Gabiroba

- - - - - - - - -

Chapter 6: Phase One

Catherine had a skip to her step on that night. A gleeful and contagious smile graced her lips as she bound through the halls of the Las Vegas crime lab. As she walked, lightly swaying her hips, she drew attention from all of whom she passed. Although it was not unusual to see her so happy, anyone who had ever seen her coming to work on the first three days of the New Year, especially if she had to work on December thirty-first, knew she was never this joyful. In fact, the only thing even Grissom could draw from her on those days was bitterness, normally aimed at him for keeping her away from her daughter.

As Catherine strode down the hall that morning she knew the stares she was receiving. She also knew that today's gossip would most likely be focused on her, but she didn't mind. Today she had come to work with a plan, and nobody stopped her when she had a plan, even a corpse. Actually, if she really thought about it, a corpse popping up could actually be of help to her at the moment.

Pausing once she reached Gil Grissom's office to make sure everything was still in place, Catherine strode in and plucked herself down on the couch she had him put in there just for her. Of course the owner of the office had not even noticed her grand entrance, but it was even better. Surprising her best friend was always more fun than him seeing or hearing her come in.

She waited for a minute and watched him go over the report in his hands, realizing it was the one she had handed in to him yesterday. She saw he was getting to the end by the way his expressions changed, he had read the post it comment she had added onto the report knowing he would read the whole the whole thing before he even took notice of it. This seemed like the best time to startle him.

"Hey Gil, good read?" She said expecting him to jump in surprise, which he didn't.

"Good morning Cath and yes it is. I see you're here early." He looked over the manila folder and straight into her.

Smirking she answered him. "You've known I was here the entire time haven't you?"

Moving to get out of his chair and around his desk he continued looking at her. "Well, I might have had some inkling. Really Catherine, you should learn to move more stealthily." He berated her lightly, all the while a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

Gil rose from his position leaning against his desk and sat beside his wife. "Did you have any trouble with Lindsay tonight? I hope I didn't cause any disturbance last night when I showed up with pizza." He brought his lips to her hands and gave the back of each hand a small kiss.

Mesmerized by his actions she barely remembered to answer, just barely though. "No, no problem. She did want to know what brought on this sudden urge to bond more with her, but I don't think she questioned it too deeply."

"Good. So, why don't you go on to the break room and wait for the others to arrive. I don't think it should be too full tonight. Then again you never know with the way Vegas is."

"Alright, I'll be back later though, I have a surprise for you, and I think you are going to enjoy this." Catherine gave him a look that promised of many good things to come but left as soon as she felt he was deftly hooked.

She walked towards the break room at a slower pace than when she had come to Gil's office. Lately the kids had been acting extremely strange around her and she wished it would just stop already. Even Jim had given her some looks she had not enjoyed. Though she had not mentioned it all to Gil, she had noticed the same thing aimed at him, though she knew he was oblivious to it.

Deciding to check her e-mail before meeting the rest of the team, Catherine walked to her office first, still receiving the same looks as when she had first walked into the lab. 'If they only knew,' being the only thought to cross her mind.

Opening her e-mail she noticed two messages awaited her. The first being from Gil and the other from an e-mail she did not recognize. She moved to open the one she did not recognize first but, at the last minute, opted for opening Gil's, thinking that whoever it was could wait, her husband was more important.

Quickly she read over his daily message, her smile growing wider with each word she absorbed. Sometimes he would include a picture of them together or some image he found on the internet which he thought she might enjoy. This was one if those times. With his message of love, as he liked to call them, he included a picture which had been taken of them during their wedding. They were caught in the middle of their first kiss as husband and wife, right after the judge had given the go ahead after officially pronouncing them married for their ears only. With the picture was a small script that read, "Only one month and fourteen days left."

That was when it hit Catherine to how close she was to actually celebrating her first anniversary; she had not noticed until now. She had not even bought Gil a gift yet! But, by the looks of it, it seemed her husband had at least already begun to think about what he was going to give her. Tomorrow she would go shopping and try to get him something. It was a good thing he sent her this reminder or she would be buying a last minute gift, and she hated doing that, especially on her first anniversary.

She saved the small momentum in the folder she had created just for Gil's romantic little e-mails and notes, and then she moved onto the other e-mail she had received. Again she noticed the strange return address and decided that, before opening it, she would use the office virus checker to go over the e-mail. When it came back clean she was even more intrigued. The senders address was not a name she was familiar with, but it also seemed to be something she should know. To say the least, it was bothering the hell out of her.

Catherine brought it up on a new screen, noticing that it held two attachments. Becoming "couriser and couriser" as Alice once said, she pressed forward. The only message she was a riddle she was having trouble with deciphering.

"We see you, but do you see us?

We're all around you, but have you paid attention?"

Getting a decidedly creepy feeling about the e-mail, she moved along to the attachments which had already downloaded. What she saw there made her gasp, at a very inopportune moment as Greg had just come in.

Catherine quickly lowered the screen, but not quickly enough that Greg did not get a chance to see the pictures, not that he let it seem as if he had, being out in the field with Grissom had taught him to gauge his reactions pretty quickly.

"Everything alright there Cath?"

Se tried to remain as stoic as possible but knew she looked flushed. "Yeah, everything is fine. What did you need?"

Even though he knew she was lying he let it pass. This was after all payback for not inviting them to the wedding.

"Oh, Grissom was looking for you. Cases, he had a stack too."

Catherine groaned. Great, a bunch of cases meant that most would be working alone and that she and Gil would most definitely NOT be working together, unless one of them involved lots of interesting bugs and a bunch of blood. The odds of that coming true were not very high, even in Las Vegas, where most cases involved one of those too, especially blood. They were in Vegas after all, what didn't have blood involved in some way shape or form.

"Alright Greg, I'll be right there."

Now, the boy might have been the biggest kid on the team but he knew a dismissal when he heard one, and that was a dismissal if he ever heard one.

"Sure, I'll let him know."

After making sure Greg had really left the vicinity of her office Catherine went back to the offensive e-mail and looked over it again. She continued to stare at the attachments and could not understand what they were doing on her computer screen or why this person had decided to send it to her. There was no threat included, at least none that she could recognize.

She decided that the first thing she had to do, after coming back from the crime scene and processing the evidence, was to make sure Gil read his e-mail to see if he had gotten a similar message and of had not, to show him hers.

------------

OK, I know I am evil, but I think I have mentioned that I REALLY love leaving my reading on the brink of falling off the edge of a hill, generally the steeper the better. Please tell me what you guys think on this latest chapter. Greatly appreciate it!!!

Gabiroba